topfivebooks.com.au

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

Kim Kingston — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 01:31:58 +0000

A thriller worthy of the investment of your time, as long as you can stomach the disturbing and credible references to sexual violence against women.

Podcaster Rachel Krall is covering a rape trial in a small US town; at the same time she is investigating the death of a young woman in the same town twenty five years ago. The book is part courtroom drama and part examination of how class, money and steroetype affect society’s attitude to young women, and to the men who rape them. Not necessarily a pleasant read but it works as a thriller and leaves you with a lingering sense of horror, and a little hope. 4 stars.

The post The Night Swim by Megan Goldin appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Kim Kingston — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 05:47:23 +0000

It’s a classic for a reason – profoundly good, unexpectedly funny and unforgettable. If you were unfortunate enough not to encounter it in your early teens, read it now. But whatever you do, don’t read the appalling Go Set a Watchman afterwards. That book should never have been published. It makes me so mad I could spit. Enough said.

The post To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Quick Sand by Malin Persson Giolito

Kim Kingston — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 03:30:50 +0000

A good rule of thumb is that if a publisher bothers to translate a Swedish crime novel into English, it’s usually a winner. That is certainly the case with Quick Sand. It’s so good it makes me salivate. There are six people in the classroom in the opening sequence: eighteen year old Maja Norberg is the only one who hasn’t been shot. The police swiftly take her into custody and the action cuts between the trial and her memories of what went before. Maja is a compelling character – she calls everyone on their bullshit, even herself. Her relationship with the damaged, ultra rich Sebastian takes her into territory where love, lust and abuse all intermingle. Ultimately her level of guilt is determined subjectively by the reader, not in the courtroom. Read it. It’s riveting.

The post Quick Sand by Malin Persson Giolito appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan

Kim Kingston — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 01:04:21 +0000

Wow, this one is so good and so relevant. Holly returns home to Liverpool in 1993 after a term at Oxford, where she was raped. She tells only one friend about the rape, and feels a failure “for being unable to communicate something so crucial-the fact she did not want her body to be invaded by another-adequately.” Twenty three years later, Holly’s rapist is a government minister accused of rape by a woman he was having an affair with, and she is the only one who knows how utterly capable of it he is. The subsequent trial highlights just how nigh impossible it is for a jury to believe a rape allegation in the context of a broken relationship and a charming defendant who has, and has always had, the establishment on his side. There is so much in this book about sexual politics, power, entitlement, messy relationships and the vulnerability and strength of women that rings true. Every woman will be able to relate to some aspect of it. It’s also an excellent courtroom drama. Put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and read it, now. Time’s up, people.

The post Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty

Kim Kingston — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 02:44:02 +0000

Geneticist Yvonne Carmichael is in her early fifties. She is good at what she does and competent and sensible in every part of her life. So much so that her affair with Mark Costley, who she presumes is a spy, takes her almost by surprise. She’s a little obsessive about this guy, although it is difficult to see why as he does seem a bit of a thoughtless prat. But just when you’re getting a bit tired of her obsessing, (SPOILER ALERT) the novel takes a sharp left turn and ventures into truly shocking territory when Yvonne is raped by a colleague. She tells Mark; he kills the rapist and both Mark and Yvonne are put on trial for murder. The trial is fascinating. Every reason Yvonne had for not reporting the rape to the police (or her husband) proves valid, and it’s ugly. Apple Tree Yard is a brutal reminder of the physical vulnerability of women, and how utterly open to eviscerating attack and judgement we become when an allegation of rape is made. This despite Yvonne’s earlier reminiscences about women’s advancement since suffragettes, “We can [now] sleep with whomever we like – within the limits of our own personal morality of course – just like men do. No one takes us to the village square and stones us any more, or places metal torture devices in our mouths for talking too much, or drowns us in a pond because a man we rejected has accused us of being a witch. We are safe, surely now, in this time, this country, we are safe.” Well. Think again, sister.

It’s a very good book but not a perfect one – I found the first person narrative irritating, with Yvonne consistently addressing her lover as ‘you’. She largely fails to convey why she is so utterly enamoured of him. I would have liked, also, to know more about her bipolar son. It seems at one point she is going to tell us all about him, then she doesn’t. But the portrait of a long marriage feels real – the comfort and the silence within it, the understanding. As Yvonne says, the “glue of a long marriage..isn’t whether you are each other’s soul mate or intellectual equal: it’s whether you are both happy with no more than an exchange of grunts over breakfast.” What she does, and what is done to her, tests this marriage to its extreme. The book is an intelligent portrait of people transgressing, of the cruel and beautiful things we do to one another, and the consequences.

The post Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Kim Kingston — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 00:01:54 +0000

Midwives is a rich and satisfying read- my second taste of Chris Bohjalian, after the excellent The Guest Room. Sibyl Danforth is a warm, sensible midwife assisting women at home births in Vermont in 1981. One homebirth goes horribly wrong and, unable to get the patient to hospital, Sibyl ends up performing what she believes is a post mortem C-section. But was the mother really dead? The charge of involuntary manslaughter and subsequent trial expose Sibyl and her family to incredible stress. Told from the perspective of her grown up daughter, who was fourteen years old at the time of the trial, this remembering of the darkest and most confronting period of their lives is utterly absorbing. Sibyl has a beautiful grace to her and the gathering of friends and midwives around her in her worst moments speaks volumes about the comfort women give to one another. I especially love the reality check; Sibyl’s husband believes those same women often outstay their welcome and become a major irritant. Midwives is a beautiful examination of how trauma can enter into a life so swiftly and unexpectedly and, even after the crisis is over, the horror of it never really leaves.

The post Midwives by Chris Bohjalian appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.